Blame Them For Your Empty Wallet

The banks will return $68.3 billion to the Treasury Department by the end of the year, a figure that represents roughly 25% of the money given to banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Times reported.

JPMorgan Chase, American Express, Bank of New York Mellon, The BB&T Corporation, Capital One Financial, Goldman Sachs, the State Street Corporation and U.S. Bancorp are among the banks that will begin paying money back, people familiar with the situation told the Times. All were given the go-ahead to repay bailout funds passed the stress tests.

Morgan Stanley was given the green light to repay their loan after it was advised to raise $1.8 billion following its stress test.

The banks that were deemed strong enough to have less government support were approved after months of lobbying and stress tests. Not among the banks named by the Times was Citigroup, once the world's biggest bank before being punished mightily by the subprime meltdown.

More than 600 banks across the country received TARP money.

The Obama administration hopes allowing the banks to return to bailout money shows some economic stability has returned to the markets -- and the repaid money could be used to help other troubled banks and companies.

The Federal Reserve said last week it would approve an "initial set" of banks that were strong enough to pay back money, the Times reported.